Romeo and Romeo

Chapter 18

'Ludwig, Ludwig, wake up!'

'Mhmm...'

'WAKE UP!'

'HUAH! What happened?' Ludwig snapped his eyes open and instantly assumed he worst. But thankfully he was met with Feliciano's beautiful brown eyes and messy hair.

'It's CHRISTMAS!'

'SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!' An English voice could be heard from downstairs trying to be angry but sounding strangely happy.

'Come on, let's go!' Feliciano tugged at Ludwig's arm trying to get him to sit up. He is surprisingly strong when he wants to be.

Ludwig got up and grabbed his dressing gown and they both got their presents before Feliciano took his hand again and walked downstairs to the living room. There was a smell of hot chocolate in the air and the sound of chatter coming from the room.

Before Ludwig realised, Feliciano had pushed the door open and the room fell silent.

'Good morning! Would you like some hot chocolate? I'm afraid you missed breakfast.' Elisaveta said after a short pause and with a smile with forced metaphorically written all over it.

'Duuude.' Alfred held on to the u.

It suddenly occurred to Ludwig that it was almost nine o' clock. His hair was a mess and so was Feliciano's. His dressing gown was tied loosely and Feliciano was wearing a tee shirt and briefs. The pair were holding hands and to top it all off, Feliciano was blushing with a smile on his perfect face.

'M-morning.' Ludwig said awkwardly.

'Can I have a really big one please?' Feliciano walked merrily over to Elisaveta while others (Alfred and Francis) sniggered.

'Of course you can.' Elisaveta replied sweetly.

Feliciano was completely innocent of what others thought. They just cuddled, so he couldn't see a problem.

The group sat and chatted until lunchtime with Elisaveta, at one point, getting into a very heated conversation about women's rights. Arthur even had to stop her from hitting Alfred with a frying pan.

It was a hearty lunch with everyone's input into the glorious meal. After Alfred and Hercules gave up on their competition on who could eat the most, they all decided to open their presents.

The presents were passed around with Elisaveta grudgingly giving hers to Alfred. They sat in a somewhat circular formation and went around the circle.

'Thank you, mon cherie.' Frances winked at Arthur who grimaced in response. The French man also received an unexpected glare that could make something catch fire from Matthew.

The next person was Kiku who opened his mewing present to find a black kitten with a white tummy and strange dark eyes. 'Thank you.' He looked to Hercules who was about to dose off.

'Wow! Thanks! I have always wanted a miniature pasta maker!' Feliciano beamed at Alfred.

Ludwig opened his present and then looked to Kiku. They both nodded but didn't exchange a word. He looked down at the origami book in his hand before looking at Yao expectedly.

'A wok? Another one for the collection!' He smiled at Ivan.

Feliciano's heart sped up as he thought of all of the terrible things Ivan could say about his painting. 'Ah! Thank you. This will look great in my hall.' He turned the painting around for everyone else to see and received oohs and aahs from everyone. Feliciano blushed at all of the appreciation he was getting but smiled anyway.

'Thank you dude... I mean your ladyship.' Alfred winked at Elisaveta causing her to clench her hands into fists. He held a pair of especially flashy sunglasses.

'Tea. Really?' Arthur looked at Alfred who just put in his glasses in response, despite the lack of need for them.

Matthew said a quiet 'thank you' to Natalia who sat apart from everyone else. Matthew was holding a decorative knife and she held a recently emptied bottle of maple syrup in her hand and had a strange expression on her face.

'Actually I have a small gift for each of you.' He quickly handed around small handmade knitted egg cosies.

The rest of the day went by, with them all chatting about nothing in particular and playing cards. It was enjoyable and relaxing. Until the peacefulness was broken by an abrupt, loud ringing noise.

'I'll get it.' Arthur said before exiting the room.

The rest of them sat in silence wondering what it was about, because telephones these days were only used in an emergency.

Some people jumped when Arthur came back in. 'Ludwig, it's for you.'

Ludwig's heart dropped. He had hoped it wasn't for him.

The German walked into the kitchen where the phone was hung on the wall closely followed by Feliciano. He took the phone off the receiver and put it to his ear.

'Hello?'

'H-hello? Is this Ludwig Beilshmidt?' The voice was quick and panicked.

'Yes. Who are you and why are you calling?'

'This is Roderich Eldstein.'

The voice on the other end seemed reluctant to give away any more information so Ludwig had to reassure him.

'Ah, you are my brother's... friend correct? How are you? How is he?' He attempted to mimic the more social Feliciano and asked a lot of rhetorical questions while trying to keep his voice from wavering.

The voice on the other end sighed, and then sniffed. 'His condition has worsened and doctors say - he... please just come home.' Roderich was clearly crying and Ludwig was close to it as well.

He needed to say goodbye.

He agreed to be there as fast as possible then hung up and walked out the room and upstairs.

'Ludwig, what's wrong? What happened?' Feliciano followed Ludwig up the stairs and into their room.

'My brother... he's ill. I need to say goodbye.'